Warren Robinett Secretly Credited Himself

Atari programmer Warren Robinett secretly inserted the message "Created by Warren Robinett" into the 1980 Atari 2600 game Adventure because the company refused to credit its developers. He kept the hidden room secret from everyone at Atari until a 15-year-old boy from Salt Lake City named Adam Clayton discovered it and mailed the company instructions for reaching it. Atari considered removing the message, but creating a new ROM mask would have cost about $10,000. A software director named Steve Wright compared hidden features like Robinett's message to Easter eggs, leading Atari to keep it, adopt the term, and encourage similar secrets in later games.

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